MEMS...
Micro-electro-mechanical
systemsMicroelectronic integrated circuits can be thought of as
the "brains" of a system and MEMS augments this
decision-making capability with "eyes" and
"arms", to allow microsystems to sense and control the
environment. Sensors gather information from the environment
through measuring mechanical, thermal, biological, chemical,
optical, and magnetic phenomena. The electronics then process the
information derived from the sensors and through some decision
making capability direct the actuators to respond by moving,
positioning, regulating, pumping, and filtering, thereby
controlling the environment for some desired outcome or purpose.
Because MEMS devices are manufactured using batch fabrication
techniques similar to those used for integrated circuits,
unprecedented levels of functionality, reliability, and
sophistication can be placed on a small silicon chip at a
relatively low cost. http://www.memsnet.org/mems/what-is.html

From
the newswire:
K. Warwick, "brainbots" and dopamine --
Reading U. BritainMeanwhile, a team at the University of Sheffield
in Britain has built a brainbot
controlled by a mathematical model of the brains basal
gangliathe part that helps us
decide what to do next. Depending on how much
simulated dopamine (the
neurotransmitter in the brain that controls movement, behaviour,
mood and learning) is dialled into the
mathematical model, the brainbot
responds differently.

Too much, and the machine ( Ed: make that "person"
) has trouble suppressing unwanted actions, or tries
to do two incompatible things at oncelike patients with
Huntingtons disease, Tourettes syndrome or
schizophrenia.
Too little digital dopamine, and the machine has difficulty
deciding how to movelike patients with Parkinsons
disease. Warwicks team at Reading has now gone a
stage further. Instead of using a computer model of part of the
brain as a controller, the groups new animat
(part animal, part material) relies solely on nerve cells from an
actual brainhttp://www.financialexpress.com/news/Minds-of-their-own/364208/

Nano in our food --Toxic chemicals in our foodNanotechnology, the
manipulation of matter at a scale of 100 nanometres or smaller
 the levels of atoms and molecules, is already used in the
manufacture of products such as nutritional
supplements, cling wrap and containers, antibacterial
kitchenware, processed meats, chocolate drinks, baby food and
chemicals used in agriculture.
Nanotechnology engineers say that a new era of food free of the
negative effects of fatty or sugary foods is upon us,
enthusing that future generations of humanity will be able to eat
any kind of food no matter how rich or salty or high in
cholesterol, thanks to the new science of the very small... "there are already many products
containing nanomaterials on the shelves, and many more expected
in the future." http://euobserver.com/9/25846/?rk=1

Nanoflowers detect alchohol The "nanoflowers" were made from zinc
oxide by Yujin Chen and colleagues at Harbin Engineering
University. Conventional ethanol sensors are made from the same
material and work by detecting the change in electrical
resistance when a wad of zinc oxide powder or a layer of the
material is exposed to ethanol vapour...
The sensor can detect ethanol at levels as low as about 50 parts
per million, far more sensitive than is required for applications
such as breathalysers. But for practical use, they need to be
"doped" with platinum or gold to increase sensitivity
even more  a technique common in zinc oxide sensorshttp://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10001

Bullet-proof, wearable computer Small computer systems are already used by the US military
for communications, navigation and reconnaissance. The new,
ultra-tough computer system was constructed by Xybernaut, which
currently makes compact wearable computers for use in the
engineering and construction industries.
Prototype Xybernaut computers fitted with body armour have
already been distributed to defence and law enforcement
customers, the company says. The system was developed with
leading US body armour company Second Chancehttp://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn2358

Nano-bio-technology nano-biotechnology. By coating a nano-sized
machinesay, a silicon chip smaller than a human
cellwith a lipid bilayer, the scientists could trick a
human cell into talking to the machine, maybe even into taking
orders from it. ....Its authors predicted that in the next 10 to 20 years,
nanotechnology would allow a broadband connection between thehuman brain and machines. It would enable new sports, art
forms, and means of communication; allow the human body to resist
stress, sleep deprivation, disease, and aging; and find ways to
exploit the resources of the moon, Mars, or approaching
asteroids. In short, nanotechnology will solve all the world's
problems.
"It may be that humanity would become like a single,
distributed and interconnected 'brain.'"

The European Commission and the German Parliament criticized
the U.S. report (called among nano-techies the Nano-Bio-Info-Cogno,
or NBIC report) for being overly futuristic without
considering societal and moral issues. In its own report, the
German Parliament noted its bias toward a pseudo-scientific
movement called transhumanism. Transhumanists believe
science, including nanotechnology, will help humans transcend
their mental and physical limitations, including pain and death.
"These ideas have bled into mainstream science technical
thinking," says Nigel Cameron, director of the Center on
Nanotechnology at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. Mr.
Cameron works to bring together transhumanism's critics to
voice their concerns. He cites the work of Kevin Warwick as one
reason to take transhumanism seriously.http://www.worldmag.com/articles/11580

According to Dr DK Arvind,
Director of the Institute for Computing Systems Architecture at
the University of Edinburgh and one of the UK's leading advocates
of speckled computing, specks provide the possibility of seamless
integration between the material and digital world.
Each speck has a sensor, its own processor and memory capability.
This gives the specks a kind of 'computational aura', which can
pick up information from the environment. Collaborating with
other local specks, the data gathered is acted upon. Depending on
the application, the specks can be programmed to read a variety
of information. Working together the specks are powerful enough
to create new forms of pervasive computing
Other important issues around speck-based computing are the
ethical and social implications of pervasive technology."http://www.nestafuturelab.org/viewpoint/art69.htm

Future Tecnologies ... Smart
Duston its way
A key beneficiary in building ubiquitous wireless networks will
be software radios. Already in use in advanced military radios,
and under development by MIT spin-off Vanu and others, software
radios are certain to be here soon. These replace hard-wired
radios with a computer processor and an antenna using
software-based signal processing. . This means that a software
radio can support different standards and can be upgraded. One
device, for example, could be an FM receiver, a GPS receiver, a
GSM cell phone or an 802.11 wireless network transceiver just by
changing the software application it uses. It enables tremendous
economies of scale which will make radio links cheap enough to
put in pretty much anything.http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/mobile/showdetail.asp?ArticleID=2632

3M, optical film and Bush in the late 1990s using nanotechnology to create optical
films for liquid crystal displays (LCD). In products
ranging from cell phones to LCD televisions, displays
using 3M's Vikuiti brand
optical films are significantly brighter than those
without optical films. Future applications include solar control
for buildings....one human hair equals 70,000 nanometers,
and nanotechnology is in dimensions 100 times smaller than the
human hair.http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/02/02/1338513.htm

3 M and the new tech-economy " President George W. Bush called on Congress to
increase the number of visas for engineers and physicists and
spend more on research and development.
"We must remain a flexible, technologically
based economy," Bush said Thursday after
touring a 3M plant inMaplewood,
Minnesota. "Innovation is a vital part of
the future of the United States of America."
Bush outlined proposals in his State of the Union address
on Tuesday that he said would help keep the U.S. ahead of
economic rivals such as China and India. He wants to spend $5.9
billion next year on what the administration calls the "American
competitiveness initiative," with $4.6 billion of the
money being used to extend a research tax credit that benefits
companies like Microsoft and Boeing.
"If we don't do something about how to fill those
high-technology jobs here, they'll go somewhere else," Bush
said. (Bloomberg) IHT

IBM, Verichip partnership ( Austin, TX )Sept. 8, 2005--VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of
Applied Digital (NASDAQ: ADSX), a leading provider of
identification and security technology, announced today that its
implantable RFID healthcare system, VeriMed(TM), is
now a component of the Hospital demonstration area of the IBM
Solutions Experience Lab located in Austin, Texas.
The IBM Solutions Experience Lab conducts approximately 260 tours
annually for corporations and government agencies wishing to see
demonstrations of functional, integrated hardware and software
solutions for specific market sectors. The Hospital area
demonstrates currently available technologies compatible with IBM
healthcare solutions that provide integrated, state-of-the-art
capabilities in the healthcare environment.http://www.adsx.com/pressreleases/2005-09-08.html

Nick
Donofrio ; VP - IBM ...... bbc

IBM ... Nick Donofrio ( VP- IBM ) speaking at
the Royal Academy of Engineering, England"But change and innovation in technology that
people will see affecting their daily lives, he says, will
come about slowly, subtlety, and in ways
that will no longer be "in your face". It
will creep in pervasively. Nanotechnologies will play a key part in this
kind of pervasive environment in all
sorts of ways, through new superconducting materials, to
coatings, power, and memory storage.
"I am a very big believer in the evolution of this industry
into a pervasive environment, inan incredible network infrastructure,"
says Mr Donofrio. People will not have to do anything to stay
connected.

"Trillions of devices will be connected to the net in
ways people will not know."
Natural interfaces will develop, devices will shape your persona,
Behind this vision should be a rich robust network capability and
"deep computing", says Mr Donofrio. Deep computing is the ability to perform lots of complex
calculations on massive amounts of data, and integral to this
concept is supercomputing

ultra-low wireless biosensor The BNS system is based on a ground-breaking low-cost,
disposable integrated sensor interface chip - the Sensium - that,
due to its ultra low power and very small battery size, can be
implanted in or worn on the body with complete freedom of
movement unlike existing bulky monitoring solutions. The Sensium
is compatible with a wide range of sensors and can be configured
to detect vital signs such as ECG, blood oxygen and glucose, body
temperature, and even motion and mobility. The BNS system is
designed to enhance the way doctors and patients monitor a host
of chronic illnesses, increasing the effectiveness of available
treatments and improving the quality of life for patients. http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=2108

MRAM , magnetic RAM MRAM holds a huge opportunity with RFID. There's a lot of
pressure from the Department of Defense and the Food and Drug
Administration, who want more than just the initial 96 bits of
information on a chip, to thousands and thousands of bits,"
Van Fleet said.
Unlike all other existing computer memories, which are based on
storing electrical charge, MRAM stores information using
nano-sized magnetic bits, each akin to a compass needle. A
computer writes data into MRAM by flipping each bit's magnetic
polarity, allowing data to be kept even when electrical power is
removed.Moreover, MRAM is resistant to radiation, unlike competing
technologies such as flash memory.
"This makes it more usable for applications that deal with
X-rays, such as with airline tags or military applications, or
with the FDA, who requires tags that come with or inside a
container or package for a pharmaceutical or a food product have
to be irradiated," Van Fleet said.Van Fleet thinks such printed chips will take 5 to 10
years to reach the market, but Dimmler predicts his company could
have RFID tags printed with nanoparticles or polymers sooner --
demonstrating feasibility in 2006, pilot quantities by 2007 and
commercial quantities in 2008.http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/8SZXJk4UTbYvMy/Nanotechnology-Could-Speed-the-Adoption-of-RFID-Tags.xhtml
Nano No-nos; a health hazard ( titanium dioxide, etc. metals ) Some of the new concerns center on metal-containing
nano-materials such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.
Compounds like these have always been used as sunblocks -- the
thick solid-colored lotions you see on lifeguards' noses -- but
once mixed into the lotions at a nano level, they turn
translucent. Scientists fear that if the metallic atoms in these
lotions get into the body, they'll create
free radicals and undergo oxidation reactions, literally pulling
cells apart in a fashion similar to the way
alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking destroy cells.

The Food & Drug Administration approved the products, as did
the Scientific Committee on Cosmetic & Nonfood Products,
which advises the European Commission. Don Marlow, agency
standards administrator for the FDA, says that could change if
further research proves otherwise, as is the case with all
products, nano or not. "We would evaluate any new products
on the basis of new information," he says. How big is the
risk? Fairly small, according to current research. But truth is,
no one really knows for sure.
One study from 2004 found that, when present in water, carbon
structures called buckyballs slipped into the brains of
large-mouth bass and killed cells.http://businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2005/tc20050223_6956_tc204.htm

Nanotechnology: The Science of Small Things
Nanotechnology, according to its fans, will jumpstart a new
industrial revolution with molecular-sized structures as complex
as the human cell and 100 times stronger than steel.
The new technology transforms everyday products and the way they
are made by manipulating atoms so that materials
can be shrunk, strengthened and lightened all at once. Theory says it is all possible. A nano is a measurement of
a billionth of a meter, or about the size of 10 hydrogen atoms.
That translates into 1/80,000 the diameter of a human hair.
Aided by recent advances in microscopes, scientists can now place
single atoms where they want for the first time. The potential
applications are numerous, with microscopic computers,
cancer-killing antennae and non-polluting car engines on the
distant horizon.
Worldwide, the two industries with the potential to win big with
nanotechnology are electronics and biotechnology, according to
MIT researchers. On the biotech front, scientists are promoting
the notion of nanoparticles made from gold that could be
triggered remotely to heat and kill individual cancer cells. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=569&ncid=738&e=3&u=/nm/20040201/tc_nm/tech_nanotechnology_dc

Nano Warfare
From Bill Joy author of "Why the Future doesn't need us "
"I think it is no exaggeration to say we are on the cusp of the further
perfection of extreme evil.... a terrible empowerment of extreme individuals"
Nanotechnology has the power to destroy all life on earth from a single speck (
smart dust / weaponized 'bugs')
Power over people.
http://www.nanoage.com/military.htm

Nanoscience and Illness -creating
subdermal tattoos
Though it will have many uses, including industrial applications,
Prof Birch highlighted the possibilities within so-called nanomedicine.
He said: "The miniaturising of things means we
are looking at the prospect, not too far down the line, of 'labs on a chip',
where a sealed unit could be injected into a body and monitors,
diagnoses and treats a specific condition.

"Take diabetes: detecting the glucose molecule that is
involved in the condition in the body is very difficult, and the
current methods of detection and treatment are very invasive and
painful - ie, pinpricks and syringes. "The idea
is that we could create a closed piece of technology inside the
body that could detect the presence of glucose, then say 'we need
to put out more insulin' - essentially self-medicating."

He [ John Pickup ] said: "Under lab conditions, we
have made a molecule fluoresce when it comes into contact with
glucose. What we hope to do using nanotechnology is
create a tattoo incorporating these that could be
implanted in a diabetic's skin. The blood would flow and would
glow slightly when the patient started to become hypoglycaemic. http://feed.insnews.org/v-cgi/feeds.cgi?feedid=150&story_id=1785759